Episode 91: Five Rings of Fun

Hope you had a great Olympic Day! Alison did some sport climbing; Jill did elements of a triathlon, and we both participated on Team Olympic Fever for Team USA's Virtual Race (we're currently sitting in 3rd place--wooo!). We loved seeing everyone's celebrations -- if you haven't gotten your participation certificate, send us your proof of participation. We'll get a certificate to you! It's that time of year when the International Olympic Committee members get together for their semiannual IOC Session, and this one was a big one! First up, the big decision: Who will host the 2026 Winter Olympics? Spoiler alert (in case you haven't heard the celebrations all the way where you are): It's Milan-Cortina. Jill watched the bid presentations, and boy, did Stockholm-Åre have a sound plan guided by the IOC's New Norm/Sustainability push. However, as Alison pointed out, Milan-Cortina had more support the whole way through, and they had the government guarantees. What do you think matters more to the voting members? Also at the session, The IOC celebrated its 125th anniversary by inaugurating its brand new headquarters, the Olympic House. Speaking of sustainability, the IOC could not stop talking about how sustainable the building is--and we have to say, it is pretty cool. Check it out here. And check out the fancy guards here. The additional sports for Paris 2024 are one step closer to being added to the program. They are: Skateboarding Surfing Sport Climbing Breaking While we'll get to experience the first three at Tokyo 2020, Breaking will be a first--and sure, everyone's talking about that dance sport now, but what really grabbed our attention was where the surfing competition could possibly take place. We've learned many other things during this IOC Session, including: The bidding process for hosting the Games will change again The IOC has its own broadcasting awards AIBA, while not running the boxing tournament at Tokyo 2020, will be putting together the pool of officials. Anyone see a problem there? WADA is going through the RUSADA samples they finally got a hold of. It's not going to be pretty. Tokyo 2020 tickets are on many people's minds right now. Jill and Contributor Ben snagged a few of the ones they requested. If you didn't get everything you want to see, there will be more opportunities. One way to stay on top of them is to subscribe to this bot, which will email you whenever a flash sale occurs. Also, the U.S. Olympic Committee has officially changed its name to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. This is a big, visible step to becoming a more inclusive organization--hooray! Episode 2: Who Wants to Host? Episode 41: Wait, What Goes into an Olympic Bid? Episode 89: Ken Hanscom on Traveling to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics     DISCLAIMER: OLYMPIC® is a trademark of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee ("USOPC"). Any use of OLYMPIC® in the Olympic Fever podcast is strictly for informational and commentary purposes. The Olympic Fever podcast is not an official podcast of the USOPC. The Olympic Fever podcast is not a sponsor of the USOPC, nor is Olympic Fever associated with or endorsed by USOPC in any way. The content of Olympic Fever podcast does not reflect the opinions, standards, views, or policies of the USOPC, and the USOPC in no way warrants that content featured in Olympic Fever is accurate.